Their Child
by xFairyxWingsx
Summary: His encounter with this child was exactly the same as when he first met Lyra...Everything she did, every deep breath she took, her stare, her posture, reminded him of Lyra. He found himself saying the same words: “Who are you?” "Lyra Silvertongue."
1. Part One

**Their Child**

_Will Parry was on his way to the Botanic Gardens, early, for his usual Mid-summer day visit. On his way, however, he met someone who could possibly change his life forever..._

Will, now in his early twenties, and his dæmon Kirjava walked down the path they usually take. Will _would_ be talking to his dæmon but it was a busy day and no-one else in this world could see her. She knew what he wanted to say though.

Kirjava stopped. "What is it?" Will asked after looking to see if anyone was there. "We're being watched." Will stood still for a moment waiting to see if he could see anyone. Suddenly a dark figure jumped at him catching him off-guard and knocking him over. He hadn't fought in years giving his attacker an advantage. Will stopped defending himself because he realised that his attacker was only about three fourths of his size.

It got off him springing into the corner hidden, crouching, in the shadows. He stood up and approached the thing, whatever it was, warily. Then he realised it was not an "It" at all what he saw was a girl. A memory flashed into his mind:

_"Who are you?"  
"Lyra Silvertongue."  
"Do you live here?"  
"No."_

His encounter with this child was exactly the same as when he first met Lyra...Everything she did, every deep breath she took, her stare, her posture, reminded him of Lyra.

He found himself saying the same words:

"Who are you?"

And found the girl giving the same answer:

"Lyra Silvertongue."

The words felt as if she had struck him. "That's a lie!" He shouted without realising.

But the girl took no notice she continued staring, Will noticed, at his shoes, or ankles. With a stare both focused and unfocused at the same time...

Will remembered what Mary Malone has told him...She was looking at Kirjava! That's impossible!

"Y-you can see her, then?"  
"Yes."  
"But...How? How do you know--"  
"I just do."

Will sighed "You got a family? A mum or dad?" The girl looked up at Will she blinked a couple of times, like coming out of a trance. "Not any more. Why d'you care?"

Will continued thinking of Lyra. But this girl was _not _Lyra. She didn't have Lyra's golden hair or pale blue eyes. Both were dark...Like his?

Yes, they were...

Will's head swam. _What is going on?_

"Come with me." Will held out his hand for the girl to take. She didn't take it but she got up to follow him. Will started walking. If he kept at that pace he's get to the Botanic Gardens on time.

Problem was the girl was falling behind. "Come on." He said with a friendly hand gesture. She stayed a few meters behind, ignoring him. Reminding Will once again of his first encounter with Lyra. "Leave her Will...She's still with us."

"I know."

* * *

Will sat on the familliar bench knowing Lyra was with him. The girl stood farther away watching with curiosity. "Who you talking to?"

Will looked up. "A...Friend."

The girl had a look of...Knowing, understanding. She nodded. "Lyra. It's Lyra en't it? And you're Will, Will Parry...Can I say 'Hello'?" She asked. "Or would you rather I didn't?"

Will looked down. "Alright."

The girl walked over to the small bench, climbed over the arm of it and sat down. "Hello Lyra. I've missed you. I've finally met you're Will...He's not as good a fighter as you said! I knocked him over an' he didn't get back up!" She laughed.

Will got up quietly to let the girl talk...It sounded as if she had been here for about a week or two. He looked over at her. She wore a light blue blouse and a beige skirt, both dirty and torn in places...But not enough that it would stand out, with fancy shoes and knee socks that were dirty and scrunched around her ankles. She swung her legs as she spoke of how she bought a chocolate bar and figured out how to unwrap it, how it was just like chocolatl, asked why it had a different name...

And mentioned she was protecting something.

"I'm keeping it safe for you, Lyra. It's safe. I learnt lots 'bout it too! Just like you said you did when you was young." The girl looked at him. "Oh, I just remembered something! I was supposed to tell you that I have to stay with you for a while." Will wasn't surprised at all. Not with all the other things that happened today.

"How long is that?" Will asked, turning around to face her. "Dunno. 'Till they take me away I guess..." She replied.

"Who's 'they'?" "I don't know! They're people...Sort of...But not exactly...They sent me here to find you...And to where Lyra lives to find her before that."

"Why?" Will asked sitting back down on the bench.

"You ask more questions than me! I don't know why or how things work. They just do!" She said stubbornly crossing her arms. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry." Will chuckled.

_"Even though it's impossible there's no denying that she's Lyra's child."_

Will looked down at the girl again and smiled.

_"And mine."_

* * *

Well...Like it?

I'd prefer If you left a REVIEW not a COMMENT...

Comments are always enjoyed, though!


	2. Part Two

**Before anyone says anything...I thought I should just say PLEASE keep in mind that I'm very slow with updates. (Of all my stories)**

**In the previous chapter Will says that having a child was IMPOSSIBLE. I am NOT implying anything. (Remember this story's rated K+ the rating would be HIGHER if I was implying something.)**

Okay! Time for chapter two! (I apologise if this authors note comes across as rude or mean...I didn't mean it to.)

* * *

Mary Malone wandered around her messy flat waiting for her toaster and coffee maker to finish carrying out their duties. She flipped through two days worth of mail on her kitchen table.

"Bill, bill, bill..." She tossed all those aside. One letter sticking out of a newspaper caught her eye. She picked it up. "A letter from Will?" She asked herself opening the envelope.

"Mary, you won't beleive what's happened to me today...But you're the only person I could tell anyway--"

"_Must be about Lyra."_ She thought and continued reading.

"—I met a girl who...I can't explain it all in a letter, but I'm going to be busy for the next few days and I'm going to bring her on Friday to stay with you. She reminds me of--"

Then there's nothing just a big, empty space on the peice of paper with Will's name signed at the bottom.

"Friday...Friday..." Mary said as the walked over to her calender. Her eyes widened. "That's today!" She shouted running around her flat trying to clean up the mess.

* * *

"Let go of me!" The girl, who won't reply to any other name than "Lyra Silvertongue", cried as she tried (And failed) to pull her arm out of Will's grasp. "I'm sorry--" Will paused for a moment. "—Lyra...But I have to take you to stay with our good friend, Mary."

"Lyra" continued to struggle "She's _your _friend. Not _mine_." Her voice sounded like a growl as she tried to pull her hand away. Will picked her up, as hard as it was with his bad hand, and carried her to the taxi waiting outside.

"Sorry." Will said to the cab driver as he put "Lyra's" seatbelt on with a _click. _"We didn't want to go out today" He said ruffling the little girl's hair. He went back into the house, grabbing the suitcase with the few dolls and clothes he bought after his mid-summer visit. He got in on the other side of the taxi holding back laughter as "Lyra" tugged at the seatbelt trying to get out of it.

* * *

"Take it." Will handed the child her suitcase. She obeyed.

"Hello!" Mary opened the door to reveal Will and "Lyra"

"Is this the--"

"Yes, Mary. This is..." Will paused waiting for the girl to introduce herself.

"Lyra, Lyra Silvertongue." She smiled proudly.

"I'll explain later..." Will whispered as he pulled the girl into the house sitting her down on a chair. Will bent down so he was at eye level. "Now be a good girl and _stay with Mary. _Got it?"

No reply.

"Okay, well. I have to go." Will said turning to face Mary. "Have fun." He said, addressing the girl sitting, unhappily, in the chair. With that he left.

Mary looked at the girl. "So...What do you want to do first?"

* * *

Will returned to Mary's house to pick up "Lyra" when he arrived, however he was shocked to find police cars surrounding the house.

"Mary! Mary, what happened?" Will ran up to his friend. "S-she-she's gone Will. I went in to get her ready and when I couldn't find her I went downstairs. I-it was a mess a-and--" Mary started sobbing. "It's okay...It's not your fault." A policeman walked up to them. "Miss. Do you recognise this?" He held up a black object about the size of his palm but it wasn't _actually _black. It was wrapped in black velvet.

"I do. Can I have it please?" Will asked taking it from the police officer, who had walked away. He unwrapped it revealing the Alethiometer. Mary gasped. "Isn't that--" Will nodded.

"She wouldn't have run away without this I can tell you that..." Will looked at the object in his hand.

"She was kidnapped."

He shut his eyes closing his fingers around the Alethiometer.

* * *

**YAY! I actually remembered about Will's hand! I've been forgetting a LOT about the details of the Trilogy (I read it a few years ago.)**

**Oh my gosh! I officially hate Microsoft Word! As you can tell I'm writing this in the PAST TENSE but if I write something like "Will LOOKED at the object in his hand." It will "correct" me and say "Will look at the object in his hand." But that's NOT what I'm trying to say! I guess I'll just have to live with it...**

**Any problems with my writing? (I.e. Spelling, grammar etc.) If there are any mistakes please mention them in your review. It will make my writing even better than it (aparently) is!**

**Next chapter should be coming soon!**


	3. Part Three

**All right! Chapter Three! I'm in a good mood today so I put on all of my "Lyra & Will type songs" (About an hour's worth!) and started typing!**

* * *

"_Wake up child." _

The child awoke to someone shaking her, trying to get her up. She mumbled rubbing her eyes and sat up. Standing before her was an angel, one she had never met before. She had lived with angels all her life and wasn't the least bit surprised to see one now.

"Why did you take me from my father? He's not going to trust your kind ever again!" She shouted. The angel was startled but continued talking in his quiet, polite voice.

"I don't know anything. I was just told to take you from your current holding place." The little girl thought of Will and Mary...Living with either one of them was MUCH different than just one of those "Holding Places" she was taken to. Holding places were places in different worlds where she was kept, usually with other children...Of course the children there were full, entire human beings not ANYTHING like her. She stayed there until it was deemed "Unsafe" and was brought back to the care of the angels. Will's house was nothing like that. He treated her like...A princess.

"Don't call it that! It--" What? She couldn't say she cared for Will, she barely got to know him...

"Come now. You can discuss this with Balthamos."

* * *

"_You can find your child but you need Lyra's help." _Will was dreaming. _"You can take me to Lyra?" Will asked the stranger. "Yes." Suddenly Will was with Lyra again. "We have to find her!" Lyra said pulling along the streets of her Oxford everything started spinning in a blur of colour and confusion. Then he saw her. "Mum! Dad!" She cried running to them. Will reached out to hug her and Lyra wrapping them in a hug. As soon as he touched them they exploded into Dust. "No, no...They're gone...Both gone." He fell to his knees._

Will sat bolt upright in his bed breathing heavily. "It was just a dream..." He muttered to himself going back to sleep.

* * *

"He'll hate you for this! He'll kill all of you!" She shouted her anger consuming her small body.

"Listen. It wasn't safe there for you anymore. You shall stay here until we find a suitable holding place. We all care about your safety." The child crossed her arms frustrated. She had heard this a thousand times.

"I hate going to 'Holding places' why can't you just let me stay with my parents!"

"We've told you before. You can't stay anywhere permanently until you become a whole entity. After that we would be pleased to let you stay with Lyra or Will." Balthamos explained.

"Or? No. I want to live with BOTH of them! They want to live with each other too..." She mumbled the last part.

"When it's safe for you again I'll send you back. I'll tell Will _personally _what has happened. Alright?"

"Fine." The little girl sighed and went back to her chamber to sleep.

* * *

**EDIT: Thank you LoveTriumphs for the help. I can't elaborate any more without spoiling the rest of the story. (I think I went from 629 words to...724 words.)**

**To anyone else who's reading my story...Praise is nice, there's no denying that, but a litle criticism is necessary too...If you think something's not perfect I'd like to know. I want to make this story enjoyable and interesting to read.**

**Also, I know this chapter's short I just didn't want to have a HUGE time-jump in the middle of a chapter...It just wouldn't feel right to me.**


	4. Part Four

**I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I've just been taking my time to improve my writing, well, not my **_**writing **_**but more how I plan out each chapter...I tend to have too much action and no reason for it.**

* * *

_A few months later..._

Will paced back and forth. He knew his daughter was gone. Mary comforted him, told him it was alright, and he pretended he was okay.

But he wasn't.

Thoughts of the little time he spent with her silently played in his head _she _might not have been happy but Will was.

* * *

Will was awoken that night by a tap on his window he sat up looking in the direction of the sound while Kirjava went to investigate. A witch was in the room moments later.

"Will Parry. I need you to come with me." She said. "Why? What's happening?" Will asked. "Lyra has asked me to take you to her. I don't know anything."

"Okay." Will nodded "I'll come with you." The witch chanted something, Will couldn't make out the words, and they were standing outside a college.

There was a figure standing a few meters away Will didn't need to see the person to know who it was.

"Lyra?" He asked. She ran over to where Will was standing and hugged him. "I've missed you _so _much!"

"I've missed you too..." Both Lyra and Will stood there for a moment, not wanting to move. Hoping that time would stop right there and then.

Lyra was the firsst to move. She pulled back and stood looking at Will.

Will looked at Lyra, she had grown, she wasn't the thirteen-year-old Lyra Silvertongue anymore but at the same time...She was.

Of course Will was older too. He still had the same dark hair and eyes but he had gotten much taller, about a foot taller then Lyra, they used to be about the same size.

"Here." Will took the althiometer, still wrapped in the black velvet, from his pocket and handed it to Lyra. "So you've met her then?" Lyra smiled. "Yeah. She's--" Will smiled too. "Just like you."

"I heard someone took her from you." Lyra's smile faded. "N-not me. Mary. I had left her with Mary for a few days but when I came back she was..."

"I could ask Dame Hannah to use the Alethiometer. It could tell us where she is."

"Could you?" Will asked hopefully. "Yeah. I'm sure she wouldn't mind doing me one favour...I've been working really hard these past few weeks. I'm close to being able to read it myself...But not close enough." Lyra confessed. "C'mon. Let's go inside." Lyra motioned in the direction of the front doors of the college.

* * *

As soon as Lyra and Will entered the room Lyra knew she would have to either tell Dame Hannah _everything _that happened since the appearence of the little girl many months ago _or_ make everything as simple and vague as she possibly could.

She chose the second option.

"Dame Hannah, I need you to ask the Alethiometer something for me. Please, this is _really _important." Lyra siad after both of them sat down. "If it's that important I can't see how I can refuse." Dame Hannah said almost jokingly, not realising that it really _was_ important to Lyra and Will.

"We really need to know this answer." Lyra had a serious tone in her voice.

"Alright." Dame Hannah said. "What would you like me to ask?"

"There's this girl, a special girl, about twelve years old and...Someone has taken her and we don't know who, or why." Lyra explained hoping Dame Hannah wouldn't be curious and ask about "Lyra".

"So you want me to ask where the child is and who took her?" Dame Hannah asked to make sure. "Yes." Lyra and Will replied. "Well, I'd need more information on the child. Lyra, you should know by now that if I'm not specific the Alethiometer will tell me to be."

Lyra sighed. "She's...Oh, I don't know how to explain Dame Hannah! She claims to be our child!" Lyra motioned to Will who was sitting quietly in the chair. "But we haven't seen each other since we were kids! And we certainly didn't--" She stopped, blushing. Dame Hannah chuckled.

"Lyra, come over here. This will be good for your lessons." Lyra obeyed sitting next to Dame Hannah. She flipped through some pages of a book, a book with symbol meanings in it, and focused on the Alethiometer. She started turning the knobs pointing the arrows to three symbols explaining as she went.

"I'm pointing this one at the moon and the other at the baby. Can you tell me why?" Dame Hannah looked at Lyra. She nodded slowly. "The moon is...Magic? No, mystery and the baby is the girl?" Lyra asked. "Yes, that's right." Dame Hannah smiled and turned the third knob. "Now, _this_ one is pointing at the globe. Do you know why?" Lyra shook her head, no. "The three main meanings of the globe are _Politics, Sovereignty _and _fame _but, a globe can tell you where something is can't it?" Lyra understood now.

"So...Sometimes you don't need the meanings? You can interpret it any way you want?" Lyra asked. "No, not exactly, the symbol _can_ mean anything if you're asking, you just need to focus on what you mean, but when your getting the answer it's best to stay with the meanings I have here." She patted the book lightly. Lyra nodded. Dame Hannah focused on the dial. Lyra did too. Lyra waited for the needle to swing around to sevral symbols with a complicated answer that Lyra would never understand. Instead the long needle went straight to one symbol, where it stayed.

"The Angel?" Lyra had a puzzled look on her face. "What does that mean?" Will asked, startling Lyra. She forgot he was there.

"It's certainly not a location I can tell you that..." Dame Hannah said.

"She's not...Dead, is she?" Will asked suddenly worried. "No, she's not..." Lyra replied. "Death is the hourglass...I remember that."

The three sat silently pondering over the Alethiometer's vague answer when, actually, it was as simple as looking at the words scribbled on the peice of paper.

"_The Angel?"_

* * *

**Did I ever tell you guys I'm a skilled Alethiometrist? ;D Hahahaha! But seriously, I can understand the symbols. (Most of them, anyway...) And wow! Longest chapter yet! About two-and-a-half pages on Microsoft word!**

**Okay. So Lyra and Will are together again. How do you all feel about that? Hopefully good because this is how it's staying. No "seperating-them-for-the-second-time-and-tear-their-broken-hearts-to-shreads".**

**Oh! The part with Lyra blushing is definately NOT something I would EVER write. EVER. (I'm fine with it though. This story seriously needed some comic relief anyway.)**

**Hope you enjoyed! I might not have the next chapter up for a while because I have another story being written at the moment that REALLY needs an update!**


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